


Disruptions

by crutchiebytheway



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Denial of Feelings, M/M, Realizations, Rob-Centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 15:26:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11808804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crutchiebytheway/pseuds/crutchiebytheway
Summary: "Robert Townsend.""From the inn," Caleb chimed in. "You know, Ab-""So I've gathered." Ben shoots Caleb the tiniest of warning looks and covers it with a smile.Or, Robert visits Ben and Caleb's home with a request.





	Disruptions

**Author's Note:**

> i was really sad about turn ending and had like a thousand townhull and tallster plots running around in my head so i popped this one out really quick. hope you enjoy!

The whole thing is far too impulsive for Robert's taste, and that, he supposes, is part of the issue. Spending too much time with impulsive people only led to impulsive actions, and that just wouldn't do. 

His heart pounds in the aftermath of ringing the doorbell. He should just turn and leave, he thinks. Just as he comes to his conclusion, a bearded man swings open the door to stare at him.

Brewster. 

"Uh, hi," he says. "Can I help you?"

"My name is Robert Townsend, I run the inn down the street," Robert explains cooly. "Though you are likely more familiar with my father, Samuel."

Caleb nods knowingly. "Of course. I guess we're in there quite a bit, aren't we?" He chuckles with his words, but still flounders in making the conversation succeed.  Caleb clearly still had no idea why Robert was there.

"May I come in?" Was it rude for Robert to invite himself in? Perhaps. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Caleb says, stepping aside to let him in. 

For the first time, Robert is able to really get a good look at Caleb's home. It looks to Robert almost as though someone had desperately tried to make the tiny apartment feel comforting, but had no idea how to do so. Robert steps over various cat toys as he makes his way through, following Caleb in the direction of a ratty, worn out couch and a dented coffee table serving as a living room. He finds himself struggling to focus on just one of the many works of art, posters, and pictures up on the wall. Pictures of Caleb and his friends, the very same friends who he far too often had to deal with at work. His heart rate picked up slightly and he forces himself to look away.

Robert then hears shuffling in the next room, and a young man's voice calling Caleb's name. 

"Excuse me a moment," says Caleb, grinning from ear to ear, and he runs to the voice. 

The young man, who Robert immediately recognizes as one of their group (the blond one, Ben, who always looked as though he knew a thousand different ways to kill you, but was simultaneously one of the most generous tippers Rob had ever encountered) steps out, shirtless and seemingly oblivious to Robert, the near stranger in their living room. He wastes no time in grasping Caleb's forearms and pulling him closer into a kiss.   

It shouldn't have been a complete surprise to Robert, seeing as even he, who avoids customer's personal lives as much as he possibly can, could see how intertwined those two were. Yet, he still finds himself somewhat taken aback at their lack of hesitation. Part of him, the deep part of himself that until recently had remained hidden, wants to yell out to them. _I'm like you!_ And yet another part of him still is unsettled by the forgien language that is intimacy. His ears flush red, he can feel it, and he is suddenly repulsed by himself. Who was he to distrupt their lives, and their intimacy for his own selfish reasons? He tears his gaze away.

"We have a guest," Caleb says, finally pulling away from Ben. 

"Jesus Christ, Caleb," says Benjamin, rushing back into his room and emerging with a gray sweatshirt hastily pulled over his body. "Some warning next time?"

"Anything for you, Benny boy." Caleb's cheeky grin makes Robert think otherwise.

"I do apologize," Ben says, reaching out to shake Rob's hand. "Ben Tallmadge."

"Robert Townsend."

"From the inn," Caleb chimed in. "You know, Ab-"

"So I've gathered." Ben shoot Caleb the tiniest of warning looks and covers it with a smile. "Please, sit down. Can we get you anything?

Caleb is way ahead of them both and is already sticking his head in the refrigerator. "Fair warning, we only have wine."

"No, thank you," Robert tells them. Caleb shrugs and prepares some for himself and Ben anyways.

Robert seats himself stiffly into the armchair across from the couch where Ben sits. Caleb brings their wine glasses over, curls up next to Ben, and takes the largest mouthful of wine that he can. Robert fuzzily recalls that Caleb seemed to be the only of their friends that held their alcohol well.

"I gotta ask," Caleb says, "How'd you know where to find us? One of our friends let you know? Abigail? Abraham, perhaps?"

Robert knows that there is much more to the question than Caleb is saying outloud. 

"My father has a love for fruit baskets and handwritten notes," Robert supplied. "I know he's sent you many."

"Right you are," says Caleb, nudging Ben. "We do love our packages from Sam, don't we, Ben?"

"I confess I'm still not sure why you've stopped by, Mr. Townsend," says Ben. He seems to be geniunely curious, with no malcious intent, but it still shakes Robert slightly.

"It's... I'm here about Abraham, actually. Abe."

"Are you, now?" Caleb's eyebrows fly up in glee as he leans forward. Even Ben seems to perk up at that, awaiting further explanation. 

"No," Robert shakes his head, "It's not that. I've come to ask you to keep him away from me."

Caleb's drink momentarily slips from his grasp, and Ben's hand clumsily reaches out to catch it, set it on the table, and hold Caleb's now empty hand. Caleb uses his other hand to pick up the glass and take a swig with wide eyes. 

"I'm sorry," Robert says again, "But you must know how intent he is on bothering me-"

"Well, I don't know about that-" Ben interjects.

"-loitering in my inn-"

"Seems a bit harsh-" Caleb quickly comments. 

"-distracting me from my work and causing an overall disturbance!" Robert says. "He's in there by himself twice as much as he is with friends and it's my life alone he's insisting on ruining. He won't listen to me, and so I'm sorry, but I need him gone and I know he'll listen to you."

Ben opens his mouth to speak, but Caleb quickly cuts him off. "What's he doing, exactly?" 

The question takes Robert aback. "What?"

"I've known Abe for years. Since diapers, practically. He can cause a wide variety of disturbances, and if you really want us to stop it, we'll have to know what exactly he's doing to disrupt your work."

Somewhere in Caleb's words, Ben understood something that Robert could not see and now gazes at Caleb in admiration and awe. 

"Well..." Robert starts, "he's fixated on beating me in board games. Checkers, especially, during work hours. He's asked me out on several dates despite rejection every time. And he started a fight with a customer just because Abe thought he was making my job harder than it had to be. A full-on fistfight! With no evidence!" Robert huffs in annoyance at the memory. "And my father banned the other guy, and not Abraham. He said that a little rebellion every now and again would be good for us but I do. Not. Want. Him." Robert grits his teeth. 

"I don't believe you." Ben says plainly. 

"I'm sorry?" says Robert, offended. 

"He said he doesn't believe you," Caleb answers. "And to be frank, neither do I." 

"I can assure you, Abe has done all that and more," Rob says. "If you're truly his friends, you should know what he is capable of."

"I'm well aware," Ben chuckles at some memory invisible to Robert. "But I don't think you really want him gone." 

Robert's entire body goes cold, and then flushes hot in embarrassment. "I don't know gives you that idea."

"I'm only suggesting-"

"Don't ever presume to know me." It's a carbon copy of one of his interactions with Abraham from just last week. 

"Said that to him too, huh?" asks Caleb. They make eye contact. "You know Woody is our friend. Our friend who tells us almost everything."

Now Robert had done it, trapped himself in his own web. He should have just kept to himself. If Ben and Caleb could quote his own words back at him, there was no telling what else they knew. Did they know about the times Robert hesitated in replying with something snarky? Did they know when he stopped trying so hard to kick him out? Were they aware of the one night that still haunts Robert, the one where he almost thought Abe was leaning into kiss him and Robert almost didn't pull away? Was it possible they were sitting here, staring at him, well aware of how he sat alone in the restaurant late that night with his fingers ghosting over his lips and his mind full of what could be and all that could go wrong?

"I don't know what he could've told you. I'm not interested."

"You want to know what I think?" Ben asks. 

For once, Rob does not have a sarcastic response, and though he sneers, he does not say no.

"I think you're afraid. He likes you and maybe you like him but you're too afraid of falling in love to give it a chance." 

Robert feels as though he's been struck. 

There is a moment of silence. Caleb nods privately in agreement with Ben, though he also seems as if he was once again reminded of Ben's intensity and is slightly awestruck. 

"I think," Robert says, avoiding eye contact, "I could use some of that wine."

Caleb laughs, loud and clear and kind as he goes to bring him a drink. Robert reaches for the glass with hands shaking from adrenaline and he fights to still them. He raises the glass to his lips and drinks. 

"Thank you," says Robert curtly. He's looking anywhere but at their faves, and the trio sits in silence. 

Robert's eyes wander down to his shoes where an impossibly fat tabby cat is clawing at the laces. He jumps in surprise but truthfully, is not otherwise bothered. Still, Caleb jumps to grab it. 

"Damn it, Egg!"

Rob scoffs. "You named your cat Egg?"

"'Course we did." Caleb plops back down, grins, and holds the cat's paw up to wave at Robert. 

The corners of Rob's lips tug upwards but are quickly pulled back down but the reality he was facing. 

"Mr. Tallmadge-" he starts.

"Ben." Robert looks at him in confusion. "Please call me Ben."

"Ben, then, let's suppose you were right. Not that I'm saying you are, but let's assume. What then?"

"Well, Mr. Townsend-"

"Robert."

Ben smiles warmly. "Robert. Keep him around. Don't shut him out. Maybe even see him outside of work?"

Ben made it sound so impossibly easy that Robert looked like a moron for having not done that before now. 

"Look, I'm not like you," he says. "I can't just let everything go and get an apartment and a cat and be happy. I wish to God that I could, but I won't ever be able to do that."

"I used to think like that," says Caleb. "I never thought I'd be able to relax enough to live a normal life with the man that I love."

"I don't know if I lov-"

"I know, but you could. If not Abraham, then someone. And the point is that if you love them, your version of the apartment with the cat will come in one way or another. This exact way isn't for everyone."

"I didn't know you used to feel that way, Caleb," Ben says quietly. 

"Beside the point," Caleb shoots back. 

Robert stares into the now empty wineglass. It gives him none of the answers he's searching for. 

He stands.

"I should go," he explains, "I've already intruded enough as it is."

"It's really not a problem," Ben says and they both rise to walk him out. "A bit unexpected, maybe but not unwelcome."

"And you can always come back if you need to, Robert," Caleb continues. "I mean that." 

Robert nods solemnly and says his goodbyes, which are genuine, if not a little awkward. The walk home is not a long one, but it is windy, and he pulls his coat so that it fits more snugly. 

When Robert pulls out his phone, he only intends to fiddle with it, maybe call his father or play a game, and he definitely does not intend to text the number listed under ABE DON'T ANSWER while Ben and Caleb's words echo in his ears. But he does, a casual "Hello" with a period at the end that hopefully will  
not make him seem to eager. He shoves the phone back into his pocket.

And who knows? Maybe Ben and Caleb were right, and this text was the start to his own apartment with a cat and the man he loves. 

His phone dings two minutes later, and Robert scrambles to pull it back out of his pocket. 

Abe had responded with a meme. Robert reconsiders his decision.

**Author's Note:**

> hi! please leave kudos and comment if you enjoyed! you can also contact me on tumblr @conlonspots !


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